Interchange at 95th still in plans

BY CHRISTOPHER CURRYSTAR-BANNER

Tuesday

Jun 26, 2007 at 12:01 AM

OCALA - Over objections from a residents' group from the Shady area, a proposed interchange at Interstate 75 and Southwest 95th Street remains in the County Commission's five-year road construction plan.
County officials say the interchange would only allow access from the west on Southwest 95th Street and give residents along the rapidly developing State Road 200 corridor another way to get on I-75.
Members of the Shady Greenway Conservation Alliance argue construction of the interchange could revive plans to extend 95th Street east of I-75 toward U.S. 441. They fear that could lead to an onslaught of development where horse farms still make up the local landscape.
"This interchange is, you might say, like a snake in the grass, I prefer to say a gator in the grass, that could literally eat the Shady greenway up," Shady-Greenway Conservation Alliance member Michelle Shearer said.
In 2005, the group successfully battled to get the Southeast 95th Street extension removed from the Ocala/Marion County Transportation Planning Organization's long-term plan. County Commissioner Andy Kesselring said it's not coming back.
"We're not putting any road through there," he said.
The Shady-Greenway Conservation Alliance members wanted assurance future commissioners would not do it. They argued that assurance only comes if the interchange doesn't.
"Let's forget this thing," group member Darlene Weesner said. "Let's put a resolution on the books that you're never going to have it."
The County Commission passed the annual update of the five-year road construction plan 3-2. Commission Chairman Stan McClain and Commissioner Barbara Fitos dissented. The interchange was the sticking point for both of them. McClain said his problem was "more of the cost than necessarily having one there."
According to an estimate from the Transportation Department, the cost for design, right of way acquisition and construction of the interchange and the widening of Southwest 95th Street from Southwest 48th Avenue to I-75 would be in the $14 million range. The county needs additional impact fee money to pay for the project and construction is currently planned for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Ocala/Marion County Transportation Planning Organization Director Greg Slay said the federal government will decide if the interchange is warranted at the end of an ongoing county-funded justification study.
Slay said the three top construction priorities in the five-year plan were the former Belleview Bypass, now known as Southeast 92nd Loop, the completion of Southeast 31st Street and the proposed 42nd Street bridge over I-75 to link S.R. 200 to Southwest 27th Avenue.
Contact Christopher Curry at 867-4115 or chris.curry@starbanner.com.

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